Wyoming struggles with Jackson Hole's burgeoning elk herd
JACKSON, Wyo. — The calls to Game Warden Jon Stephens’ cellphone usually start as soon as April’s snowpack recedes and animals stream off the National Elk Refuge by the hundreds.
Elk invariably post up near cows on pastureland and get into haystacks — behavior not tolerated in Wyoming. And Stephens hops into his green pickup, bound for Spring Gulch, where he’ll deploy booming propane cannons and inflate wavy, wacky tube men to shoo the hungry herd on its way.
Problem fixed. Sort of.
“Immediately,” Stephens said, “I start getting complaints from people by Golf and Tennis saying that they can’t sleep at night.
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” he said. “If I don’t try to make an effort, the rancher’s yelling at me. But then I do stuff, and all the neighbors yell at us because of noisemakers and eyesores.”
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/wyoming-struggles-with-jackson-hole-s-burgeoning-elk-herd/article_c419fc84-f503-5521-a3e6-a4f2b784d50e.html